All posts

My father-in-law and my wife replaced the paper on the shoji screens in the two adjoining tatami rooms I use for KaradaNaoru Shisui. Though my father-in-law did most of the work. There is something very pleasing about freshly papered shoji.The rooms are the same, yet they feel quite different. Recently, a few local people from Shisui have started coming for sessions too. Not necessarily because of that, but I decided to make a short promotional video for the Shisui retreat. I

We had planned to scatter my father’s ashes on November 3. But beforehand, we were told that the harbour in Hayama would be closed for three days. Our family had arranged to spend a night in Atami, then head to Hayama the following day.The scattering was postponed, but we decided to go ahead with the trip. We would spend the time together to mark the forty-ninth day after my father’s death. ⸻ During the trip, my sister’s eldest daughter, Miu, asked me to help with her Indian

Yesterday, I happened to see a post from a Taiwanese friend on Instagram. It said: “38 weeks pregnant.” We had not been in touch for quite some time, so I immediately sent her a message. “I didn’t know you were pregnant. Congratulations.” Then I received an unexpected reply. “I’m giving birth tomorrow.” I never imagined I would contact her the day before she gave birth. ⸻ Her name is Kokoro. We have known each other for many years. Tango was what first brought us together. On

Yesterday morning, I had two clients at my Shisui retreat. The first was a new client who lives in Shisui.She had been looking for a bodywork practice nearby and happened to find me. Most people who visit me here are regular clients from Meguro.They come out of curiosity, wanting to see the place, almost as though taking a little day trip. She was only the third local client to visit. She told me she had been going for bodywork for years.Her usual practice had closed, so she

There are two ways to dance Argentine tango: choreographed and improvised. What I usually enjoy is the improvised kind. All over the world, there are tango gatherings called milongas. Argentina, of course, but also Shanghai, Beijing, Taipei, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Los Angeles and Toronto. Barcelona and Madrid in Spain, and Vienna. Italy, Croatia, France, the United Kingdom, Romania, Germany, Switzerland, Poland, and Hungary. Even the

Yesterday, October 18, I held a day of bodywork sessions in Kobe. Many people came throughout the day, starting in the morning.I am grateful to them. This was my second time holding sessions in Kobe. The first was in July.It was incredibly hot. Whenever I think back to those sessions, the heat comes back to me too. This time, it was much cooler and more comfortable.The same city, but a different season makes such a difference to how the body feels. I was glad to be there at t

A client who used to come to me when I practised CS60 returned after about five years. He told me that even getting out of a chair took a great deal of resolve.With the help of a cane, he made his way to Meguro. His physical condition seems to have changed considerably over those five years. Swelling in his legs, skin problems, and persistent dermatitis.He had also lost strength. To climb the stairs, he had to use his arms to support his body. Even walking was a struggle. In

Yesterday, my wife and I happened to watch a YouTube video about Sae Awatsuji, a designer and doll artist. Ninety-two years old. She was in fine form right from the start. She wondered aloud whether she might live another five years. At 92, she is still looking five years ahead. That alone struck me as wonderful. I do not think longevity itself is the purpose of life. Living longer is not necessarily what matters. But watching her, I could see that she had reached 92 while en

In the past three years, I have said goodbye to three members of my family.Most recently, it was my father. There is something dramatic about death.The everyday life that had carried on until then suddenly ends. Family members gather, decisions must be made, and time passes in a blur. After a while, it becomes a very quiet memory. I had not seen my father all that often.Once every month or two. More recently, I had been driving my mother to the hospital each month, so I would

My father died. Three years ago he got colon cancer, and even after they removed his entire colon and he was down to skin and bone, he recovered enough to walk on his own just three weeks after the surgery — and then, just like that, he was gone. He was eighty-three. The way he died, the phrase "a slow suicide" comes to mind. Not in a negative sense, but as proof that he had lived enough. For the last two or three months, he would nod off without realizing it, even sitting on

Yesterday evening, my mother called me. She said that my father had been vomiting repeatedly since the morning. He had vomited once in the morning, but the nausea had not gone away, and he kept trying to vomit. However, since he had eaten nothing all day, there was nothing left to bring up. Worried, my sister said that he should be taken to the hospital that same day, so he went there in the evening. I happened to have some time, so I drove to my parents’ home in Kanagawa to

Recently, new clients have gradually begun coming in. Some people also return at regular intervals—every week or every month. I am grateful for that. Compared with the rest of a person’s daily life, the time spent receiving treatment is only a small part of it. Even if their symptoms ease or disappear during a session, their physical condition may change again depending on how they spend their time afterward. That is why, in addition to the treatment itself, I try to offer gu

My wife works for a real estate company. Today, while we were driving to Tokyo, we began talking about the state of the real estate market. She told me that expensive properties used to sell quite well, but recently they have stopped moving. Apparently, the system for transferring money from China overseas has changed, and many of the Chinese buyers who had been purchasing high-priced properties have disappeared from the market. The properties most affected are those priced b

It had been raining heavily since yesterday morning. Chiba seems to be hit by this kind of heavy rain quite often these days. Despite the weather, a longtime client came to Shisui Bettei with her parents. This was the second time she had brought them. For her father, it was his lower back last time and his knee this time. His knee hurt badly enough that he needed painkillers. Her mother has rheumatoid arthritis, and her back has become hunched. I am still looking for somethin

This morning, I had a Zoom session with Michelle in Los Angeles. She said she had severe pain around her lower back. Even the slightest movement caused considerable pain. I tried a few things while observing how her body responded. When we had finished, I asked her to move her body. “I can barely feel the pain I had a moment ago,” she said. Then Michelle asked the same question she always asks. “What’s going on?” What exactly is happening? This was our third Zoom session. And

I received a message from Noëmie, a French friend I met when I was living in Mexico City. She was in Japan for work and asked if I would like to meet. Noëmie and I attended the same salsa school in Mexico City. We saw each other three or four times a week. We went out for drinks, had meals together, and often spent time with the same group of friends. She was only twenty then. She worked at the French Embassy and had a double major at university. She was quite the high achiev

I woke up before seven this morning and watched the final of Tango Escenario—the choreographed category—at the Tango World Championship in Buenos Aires. Seventeen couples had made it through to the final. Together with the continental champions, twenty couples competed in all. Watching from the beginning, I enjoyed seeing the different qualities of each couple. But after several performances, I have to admit that my concentration began to fade. Diego and Aldana finally appear

At seven this morning, I watched a livestream of the final of the Tango World Championship being held in Buenos Aires. Seven in the morning here is seven in the evening in Buenos Aires. There is exactly a twelve-hour time difference. Last year, Diego and Aldana won the Tango de Pista category. They have a tango studio in Yutenji, and I have been learning from them for many years. This year, they are competing in the Tango Escenario category—the choreographed division. Their f

Today, a woman in her seventies visited my salon for the first time. She told me that she had tried a wide range of health devices and wellness products. She had, of course, also been seeing doctors. As I listened to her, I began to see not only what was happening with her body, but also how she spent her days. She is a full-time homemaker and has a fair amount of time at her disposal. When she has time on her hands, she tends to keep searching online for information about he

Yesterday, I went out dancing tango with a Chinese friend of mine. She is an exceptionally thoughtful person. When she learned that I was studying Chinese, she began speaking to me in Chinese whenever possible. We both speak English, so using English would naturally be easier and less stressful for her. Even so, she makes the effort to speak Chinese for the sake of my studies. That is the kind of friendship we have, and we occasionally go dancing together. She lives in Meguro